The NHS Refugee Nurse Support Pilot Programme which supports refugees who are qualified as nurses in their home country to resume their nursing careers in the NHS in England is celebrating a fourth cohort of nurses starting work in organisations across the North West.

Refugee nurses will arrive at trusts across the country including three in the North West, as part of the latest intake from the programme delivered by NHS England and NHS Improvement in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), RefuAid, Reset and Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB).

In the North West refugee nurses from this most recent cohort have taken up positions at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS FT, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS FT and Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS FT.

Steven Colfar, Director of Nursing and AHP Workforce for the North West at NHS England and NHS Improvement, and lead for the programme, said: “The refugee support programme is a crucial element in our approach to ethical recruitment.

“It was originally designed and planned to be delivered for the North West region alone. However due to its success it is now an England wide programme with further interest from the devolved countries of the UK. 

“The NHS is supported by recruiting some exceptional skilled nurses who use their own lived experiences to deliver compassionate patient care. In turn we have the privilege to support them not just with a new job, but an opportunity for a new life.”

Kimberley Salmon-Jamieson, Chief Nurse and Deputy Chief Executive at Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It’s an honour to welcome four highly skilled and qualified nurses from Lebanon to Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals.

“These are our first Middle Eastern nurses currently undergoing two week’s induction before being deployed onto our wards where their skills and experience in ICU, medical, respiratory and surgical oncology will be of immediate and valued use. 

“Following their OSCE examinations in around six months’ time they will take their places as fully qualified nurses.”

Houssein, a 28-year-old, who has come from Lebanon and is joining Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS FT  as a senior healthcare assistant, said: “Leaving a comfort zone is not easy at all, I left everything behind me and travelled to the UK in order to work as a Senior Health Care Assistant at Lancashire and South Cumbria FT and once I complete my NMC, I will be a qualified nurse in the UK.

“Moving from being a general nurse in an emergency department to a mental health wards is also challenging; some obstacles I have faced is the language barrier and the different accents from one person to another. I have been introduced to the different treatments and approaches to mental health needs.

“The team at Lancashire and South Cumbria have been very supportive and are very nice people, I have started to adapt to a new culture and hope that this is a fast transition, so that I can start to serve the NHS and the country that saved me from being a refugee in Lebanon.”

Sana, a 24-year-old Palestinian, born and raised in Lebanon, who is joining Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS FT as a senior healthcare assistant, said: “I am a little bit scared as it is an intensive course to get me up to speed with how the hospital does things. It is such a different culture and it’s a challenge but one that I am ready for.

“It means I will be able to work as a nurse and help people and that was not possible where I come from.

“It’s a new life, a new way of working and a lovely place to start a new life. Who knows what the future holds, but I have a future now, and that is all that matters, a future as a nurse, in Lancashire”

Imad, a 37-year-old Palestinian, born and raised in Lebanon, and joining Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS FT as a senior healthcare assistant, said: “It is very emotional for me, having left my family and three children in the Lebanon. I am missing them so much, but I know they are proud of me for giving them a future.

“I want to qualify quickly and progress my career in nursing, it is my life my passion, after my family. I am so proud that my children will have an education, will live free, will live in a democracy

“They will grow up in Great Britain, that is incredible and worth the sadness and emotional mess I feel at times. For them to say they are proud of me, means the world to me.

Dima, a 33-year-old Sudanese, who was living in Jordan, and will be joining Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS FT as a senior healthcare assistant, said: “This is my opportunity to work and be recognised as a nurse. “I want to do some good for people at a time when they need help.

“I have always dreamed of becoming a nurse, and there is nothing better than the feeling of that dream coming true. So many people have helped me to get here. They have no idea how much their kindness means to me.”

Rabei, a 35-year-old Palestinian, born and raised in Lebanon, and joining Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS FT as a senior healthcare assistant, said: “I have a three year old child and I am so proud to know we will grow up as a family in Great Britain.

“This job will give me dignity, human rights, an education, opportunities to train and learn more and a future for my family.

“I cannot believe it, I have a career, I have a life, I have a future. I can study and become better and better in my nursing career and I can give back to those who have helped me, by nursing the sick here in the hospital.”

Israa, a 26-year-old, Palestinian born and raises in Lebanon, and joining Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS FT as a said: “When I heard about going to work in UK I thought it was a bit scary as it’s a big step in my life, but then I thought how grateful I would be to work in such a country as it will open lots of good opportunities for me and help me improve my knowledge.”

Mustafa, a 22-year-old, Palestinian born and raises in Lebanon, and joining Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS FT as a said: “I got the opportunity to travel to UK to work as a nurse and it was like a dream come true.

“Now I am here I am trying to adapt to a whole new culture but it’s worth it because we can improve our lives and have the chance to continue to build our dreams.”

The first two cohorts of the pilot programme supported refugee nurses already living in the UK, funded by NHS England and NHS Improvement, but has since been extended to also support refugee nurses currently living overseas who want to come to the UK to rebuild their lives and work for the NHS with the ultimate aim of becoming nurses in the NHS in England.

The first cohort of nurses from outside the UK (cohort three) arrived in in September 2021, funded by DHSC, and this has led to NHS England and NHS Improvement funding further ‘out of country’ cohorts.

The programme offers intensive languages skills support and a bespoke four-week course designed by LJMU to help participants prepare to return to nursing and work in the NHS. Participants are supported to secure NHS employment, initially in healthcare support worker roles, which they take up following the course and while they complete the necessary English Language assessments and NMC processes with the aim to become registered nurses in England.  

For further information, please contact the NHS England and NHS Improvement – North West media team on england.nwmedia@nhs.net